Monday/Tuesday - Jesus Teaches on His Death & on Prayer

We are in John 12 tonight as we continue this very extended study in the life of Christ. We are in the last week of our Lord's life and that's the reason for the talk of the outline where you find Monday Tuesday. We're going to try to finish up Monday what happened in our Lord's life on the Monday of the week of his death and if we have time we'll dip into the very first event of Tuesday morning as they go back into the city of Jerusalem for what will happen on Tuesday. Tuesday is a very full day. There's a lot of material in the Gospels on Tuesday but let me just review a little bit remind you of the fact that on Monday Jesus and the disciples have gotten up from where they have spent the night in Bethany just outside of Jerusalem. They go into the city and as they go in you remember Jesus cursed the fig tree that was an object lesson of the judgment on Israel for their rejection of him and then when they get into the city Jesus goes into the temple and he immediately begins to overthrow the money changers tables and and let the animals go and and drive out the sellers the money changers and the sellers of goods with with chords and and stop the traffic that was using the the court of the Gentiles as a main thoroughfare a shortcut to get through the temple and so Jesus does all of that in cleansing the temple if you will some of the commentators call it that he is he is reminding the people that this is a house of prayer designed to be especially in the court of the Gentiles a testimony to the Gentiles of of God's glory and majesty and it has become nothing more than a stock market and and a place of commerce and that was not what it was designed to be so he overthrows the money changers temp tables and so forth cleanses the temple then begins teaching in the temple is challenged by the Pharisees about the children who are still calling Hosanna Hosanna in the name of the Lord and and he answers them and then we find this story in John 12 where we left off last week where some Greeks approach Jesus disciples and we saw that these are Gentile evidently Gentile proselytes converts to Judaism they are there in the temple in the court of the Gentiles worshiping God and and they want to see Jesus and they come to two of Jesus disciples and ask to see him and that brings to Jesus mind and heart what his death is really all about and so it causes Jesus to reflect on the reasons for his death and we looked at those last time in John 12 verses 23 to 33 Jesus said he was dying first of all to bring life he he used the illustration of the seed if it's planted if it dies then it produces life it brings forth life and brings forth many more seeds an object lesson or picture of his death if he is planted in the ground if he dies then he will bring forth many more seeds minute much life will come from him and that was a kind of a picture of what his death would be so he died to bring life he died to glorify the Father he begins praying you'll recall in verse 27 he says now my soul is troubled and what shall I say Father saved me from this hour no it was for this very reason I came to this hour speaking of the time of his death and then he he concludes that prayer with Father glorify your name and God speaks from heaven says I have glorified it in your life and ministry I will glorify it again in your death and so he came to glorify the Father in his death that was one of the reasons for his death the third reason for his death was to win a spiritual victory and he talks about that in verses 31 to 33 where he mentions the fact that he has come to judge the world and the Prince of this world and when he is lifted up from the earth he will draw all people to himself the lifted up from the earth as we saw last time has to do with the crucifixion the next verse says he said this to show the kind of death he was going to die and it's talking about the crucifixion Jesus being lifted up on the cross when that happens he will draw all men to him all people to him not speaking of everybody getting saved but of both Jew and Gentile he's just been confronted with some Gentiles who love God and so he's talking about this is the time for me to die on the cross salvation will be given to everyone Jew and Gentile so he is reflecting upon his death and it is those last words that then bring from the crowd some responses to his words in verses 34 to 36 you'll see on your outline there is the call to belief we're going to see that some will believe in Jesus some will not believe in Jesus but Jesus calls everyone to believe in him let's begin let's pick up the in verse 34 where we left off last time the crowd spoke up we have heard from the law that the Messiah will remain forever so how can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up who is this Son of Man okay what Jesus had just said about the seed dying and going into the ground bringing forth life the Son of Man being lifted up that confuses the crowd now they were not confused about what being lifted up meant they understood what that meant they understood it meant his death but they where they are confused is they do not in their frame of framework of thinking in their mind they do not see the Messiah as being a victim they do not see the Messiah as dying in their thinking the Messiah doesn't die the Messiah comes conquering and he over throws the Romans and he sets up his kingdom and he rules in Jerusalem and that is what the Messiah is supposed to be doing and so the popular belief of the day was the Messiah would not die he would be a conquering hero who would overthrow his enemies and and establish his kingdom so their question basically is what kind of Son of Man are you I mean I think they understood the title Son of Man too I think they understood that that was clear from the Old Testament that Son of Man was a Messianic title Daniel chapter seven so I think they understood that title too I don't think they're saying we don't understand the the term Son of Man I think what they're saying in verse 34 is in our belief system the Messiah doesn't die so how can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up how can you say who is this Son of Man in other words who do you think you what kind of Son of Man are you if you're supposed to be the Son of Man the Son of Man doesn't die and see that's their question now Jesus answer is very interesting in fact he really doesn't answer them he does not engage in theological debate with them he could have answered them he could have described more thoroughly the role of the Son of Man and the purpose of the Messiah could have gone back to the Old Testament used Isaiah 53 Psalm 22 any number of other passages to describe yes the Old Testament does talk about the Messiah dying the the servant the Messiah coming and giving his life he could have debated that with him but he doesn't because it's not the time for theological debates it's the time to impress upon them the challenge that they must trust him and so look his answer in verse 35 and 36 is basically you're at the crossroads of a moan of decision you have an opportunity look at what he says in verse 35 then Jesus told them you are going to have the light just a little while longer walk while you have the light before darkness overtakes you whoever walks in the dark does not know where they're going believe in the light while you have the light so that you may become children of light when he had finished speaking Jesus left and hid himself from them Jesus does not engage in theological debate he basically impresses upon them the fact you've only got a brief time to change the way you're thinking you've only got a moment the light is shining in your midst but it's not going to be shining much longer and so you've only got a brief period of time to accept the light sees the opportunity to be saved is what he's saying it's right here in front of you and you need to take advantage of that opportunity what is important for you is not the fine points of theology it's not to debate what the Old Testament taught about whether the Messiah would suffer or rain and glory the Old Testament taught both and they could not figure that out but Jesus has not the time to debate those fine points of theology it's time to believe you've only got the light a little bit longer and you need to believe so Jesus calls them to believe now the responses to that are really quite amazing and I promise I'm not going to do all the talk in the night I will give you a chance to discuss and ask questions and so forth but I've plenty of time for that and I think some of that will start right about now look at the responses to what Jesus says the response of unbelief in verses 37 to 41 even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence they still would not believe in him now if you're given to marking your Bible you might want to underline the words would not if you don't like to mark your Bible scoot over and mark your neighbor's Bible and yeah but because those are the keywords would not would not believe in him okay hang on to that verse 38 this was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet Lord who has believed our message into whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed that's a quote from Isaiah 53 verse one which is one of those Messianic prophecies about them aside dying but it starts out with people won't believe that people won't believe that Jesus the Messiah is going to die and so he says they will not believe they would not believe that's a fulfillment of Isaiah 53 one now look at verse 39 for this reason they could not believe because as Isaiah says elsewhere he has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so they can neither see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts nor turn and I would heal them now that's a quote from Isaiah 6 by the way there's a little something interesting going on here just let me take a side trail for a moment a little rabbit trail for just a moment for many many years liberal theologians have said that the book of Isaiah was written by two different authors the first 39 chapters written by one author the last 27 chapters written by verses chapter 40 to 66 written by different author it was it was because the theme and the language of the two is so different that liberal scholars believe couldn't have been written by one person well what John does is he quotes from the first part of the book and the second part of the book and it trivages them both to Isaiah so John settles that question and of course you know the problem with liberal theologians is they don't believe what the Bible says anyway and so they don't take what John says here at face value but John clears that up for us John quotes from Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 6 and says both of them were written by Isaiah but that's that's not our main point the point is this is what I want you to see is this verse 37 they would not believe now verse 39 for this reason they could not believe okay this response of unbelief begins in the will and the heart of the person who rejects the gospel they would not believe that was an act of their own will they would not believe for this reason and that this reason goes back to verse 37 the main verb the main thrust of the passages they would not believe so for that reason they could not believe and then he quotes the verse from Isaiah 6 about God hardening their hearts and blinding their eyes so that they can't see they can't understand that's very strong isn't it you know that God would harden someone so that they can't be saved but please notice the order they would not and for that reason they could not now what does that tell you about man's responsibility and God's sovereignty and salvation what does that tell you okay don't turn down the opportunity to come to Christ and that's what Jesus is impressing on the Amisni by saying you've only got the light for a moment don't turn your back on that but regardless of what he did the Bible says they would not believe okay they would not therefore they could not how do those two work together does God art let me put it this way does God arbitrarily harden people's hearts and blind them does God arbitrarily say I don't think I like that person I'm gonna make it where they they can't be saved does God do that okay he gives us a free will to believe or not believe I think the order here is extremely important and this order is maintained throughout the scriptures and the reason why I want to stop here and touch on this a little bit is because there is there is a system of belief a form of of theology that says God chooses people to go to hell it's called double predestination there are some people who teach that not only does God choose those of us who are saved election but God also chooses some people to go to hell in other words I want this one but I choose this person to go to hell now I believe the Bible teaches any elections impossible to escape that if you understand the New Testament at all but the way that should be seen God does not choose people to go to hell all of us are in the same lump of clay that we're going to hell start with we were all going to hell and God in his grace chooses those who will come to him in faith he does not choose people to go to hell the gospel is given to everybody everybody has the same opportunity to receive now how all that fits together I can't explain you can't explain maybe can anybody else and the people who try to explain it are the ones who end up falling off the cliff and in error okay you have to believe both God is sovereign man is responsible but the order of things is always this way in the Bible they would not believe the reason why people go to hell is because they will not believe but when a person will not believe when a person turns their heart against the Lord and turns a deaf ear to the gospel that begins something on the inside which over a period of time leads to a hardening a blindness a callousness of the heart and when that gets to a certain point God sometimes says I'm gonna harden your heart I'm gonna blind your eyes it's not because God is God is arbitrary and he's just decided I don't want that person in heaven so I'm gonna make sure they don't get saved it's because that person has already hardened his heart of his own free will he's already chosen to turn a deaf ear to the gospel a couple of examples of that in the Bible one is Pharaoh in Egypt you remember for God told Moses you go tell Pharaoh to let my people go and I'm gonna harden his heart he told him that but if you look at how his heart was hardened there are ten plagues the first five plagues the Bible says Pharaoh hardened his heart it is with the sixth plague that the Bible starts saying God hardened his heart God judicially hardened Pharaoh's heart after he himself had chosen to reject the gospel okay that's one example another example more in in Paul's teaching not an illustration is such in the life of a person would be in Romans chapter one in Romans chapter one God says he describes people who continue to go deeper and deeper into sin and as people choose the path of sin and choose to turn away from the Lord then at some point and this is mentioned three times in Romans one the Bible says God gave them over because they had chosen to go that direction God gave them over to that and said okay I'm done I'm not gonna work with you anymore oh that's the way it always happens in the scriptures that's the order that when we choose to rebel against God harden our hearts turn a death here to the gospel then at some point if that continues there is a point where you can cross a line and God hardens God judicially decrees what you have chosen and says okay that's what you want I'm taking my hands off I will not work with you anymore will not convict you anymore you're done you're done now that's that's what is happening here they would not believe and because they had persisted in their willingness unwillingness to believe then for this reason verse 39 they could not believe there is a sense in which God is taking his hands off the religious leaders of Israel saying okay you've made your choice I've worked with you over and over and over again my son has been in your presence you've had the light right in your face and you've turned against it time and time and time and time again okay you chose your way I'm taking my hand off of you and now God blinds them and turns their ears to deafness okay any question or comment about that I think that's important to see because that's a hotly debated topic in in a lot of places well yeah it does God is a jealous God he will tolerate no rivals because he is the only true God and and that's not a petty thing by the way God knows that we'll destroy ourselves if we choose any other God to him if we choose him then that that's where our life will be truly fulfilled and end up with him in eternity so it's not it's not a petty jealousy the fact that God is jealous means that that he knows what's best for us and he will tolerate no rivals to that as I understand the scriptures once God judicially hardens a heart it's it's over it's over now the here's the key thing none of us knows when that line is crossed and so and I've preached this for 39 years I can remember preaching this many many years ago I used to do a message on on the Proverbs 29 one he that's often hardened with his heart or stiffen with his neck he that often stiffens his neck being often approved shall suddenly be destroyed in that without remedy and and I remember that verse I think kind of summarizes what we're talking about when a person continues to resist God there may come a point where God says I'm taking my hands off and once that's done there's no way for that person there there will be no further work of the spirit in their hearts God has judicially kind of cemented what they put in motion by their own rejection now again I want to emphasize none of us knows when that happens with anyone and so we we ought to continue to try to reach people no matter how much they reject no matter how much they turn away we ought to continue to try to reach them and and surely no one who is lost should ever say and I've had people say this to me before maybe you have to well I think I'm beyond hope you know I think I've crossed that line where I can't get saved now well if a person recognizes that if they're still sensitive to that that means God's still working God's still convicting by the spirit so they're not done they still have an opportunity anyone who still feels like I should get saved can get saved you know so we have to be careful with this it's a very tenuous thing here redelacate balance John is that right about not having being beyond hope isn't that something yeah isn't that something wow that's sad isn't it um you know if if the thief on the cross can be saved and we don't know how old he was but he obviously lived a very wicked life if he can be saved at the very end of his life there's hope for anybody who recognizes their need but obviously there are some people who continue to reject continue to reject completely close their heart to God and God may at some point take his hand off of him and no longer work so that that I think is what Jesus is saying here and I think he's indicating that the Pharisees have reached that point they would not believe so now he says for this reason they could not believe that's pretty pretty serious really I mean that's it is a very serious thing to treat God's truth lightly that is a very serious thing whenever we are exposed to God's truth to treat that lightly is very very serious yes man why does he take the extra step to save him yeah well in God's mysterious providence and in his sovereignty he knew the plan he had for Paul he knew that Paul was the kind of instrument that would be used to reach multitudes of people with the gospel well it wasn't completely hardened because remember what Jesus said to him when he blinded him on the road to Damascus he said it's hard for you to kick against the pricks remember that and what he was saying there basically was the goats or the pricks are the prongs of conviction of the Holy Spirit because remember Saul had heard Stephen he had been there when Stephen was stoned in fact he held the people's coats that did it so he was there and he saw what Stephen did and he saw how he responded and I think that he was under conviction I think the Holy Spirit was dealing with him so he was not he had not hardened his heart to the point of no return because the Holy Spirit was still dealing with him and so when Jesus confronts him on the road to Damascus he says Saul it is hard for you to kick against the pricks isn't it you can't you can't get away from this conviction can you that's basically what he was saying so his heart was not that hard I mean obviously he was pretty far down the road because he was putting Christians to death and he hated them and he's pretty far down the road but still his heart was hearing the voice of the Spirit and so he wasn't completely hardened yet there's always hope as far as we know there is always hope we know that the Bible teaches that God may remove his hand from some people but I don't know when that is none of us knows when that is and so as far as we're concerned there's always hope and we should never give up on anybody that's exactly right yeah Tommy yes yes exactly yeah there is and you know to go back to Paul's example in first Timothy one he called himself the chief of centers the worst of centers and so that ought to give us and give any of his hope if God saved the worst he can save anybody he must have yeah he must have I'm sure he struggled with that especially in his early years you know the Lord the Lord took him for three years out into the desert of Arabia and gave him a seminary education just between him and the Lord and I think maybe he dealt with a lot of that in those years those early years because once you see him get into his ministry he's on fire I mean he's just going forward and I think he probably had probably had to work through some of that I mean he's no different than any of us any of us would have felt like what was I doing I'm putting Christians to death but he must have worked through that okay well no no right yeah I mean the even the hardening of the heart takes place in stages you know and and I don't know when that point is to where the heart is so countless and so hard and that God finally says okay I'm gonna take my hands off and let you go the path you've chosen Romans 1 I don't know when that happens because people here and resist here and resist here and resist every time you hear the gospel and resist it puts a little more of a callus on your heart so that that's a process that happens over a period of time so certainly not that you know it's not like first time you harden your heart and resist God says okay you're done it's not like that at all okay all right are we done with that topic he did exactly right and that evidently our good point Paul was was unsaved was ignorant did not understand what he was doing that very point Paul makes in 1st Timothy 1 where he says God saved me the chief of sinners and he said but God showed mercy to me because I did it ignorantly in unbelief so he evidently that's how he reconciled things in his own heart and mind I was an unbeliever then I didn't understand what I was doing I didn't know didn't so God had mercy on me and opened my eyes yeah okay all right that's the response of unbelief they would not believe so at this point Jesus says they could not could not believe and then verse 41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus glory and spoke about him okay vert now verse 42 beginning in verse 42 we have the response of belief and this is an interesting one too this raises an interesting question verse 42 yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him he's talking about among the religious leaders in Israel okay these are the people that have led the charge against Christ but he's saying now kind of in a summary way at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him but I noticed the next statement but because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue for they loved human praise more than praise from God okay now get the picture here these are people who believe in him but they're afraid to make it public because they're afraid of the stigma that will come along with that of being thrown out of the synagogue by the Pharisees they and and the Bible even says here they loved human praise more than praise from God and notice how Jesus then rebukes that attitude in verse 44 then Jesus cried out whoever believes in me does not believe in me only but in the one who sent me the one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me I've come into the world as a light so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness a basically what he is saying there is if if you won't if you want to acknowledge me you're not acknowledging the Father either he's making it very clear that you know this is not this is all or nothing okay you don't acknowledge me you don't acknowledge the Father either if you don't honor the Son you don't honor the Father he'd made that point clear back in chapter 5 so in a sense that's a review but I want to raise this this question what what are we dealing what kind of people are we dealing with here that believe in him but they will not openly acknowledge their faith because they love human praise more than praise from God were these people really saved what do you think you don't think so okay it doesn't sound like it does it says they believed in him okay we got some tension here don't we says they believed in him that sounds genuine okay okay certainly you know Jesus said in Matthew 10 if you do not acknowledge me before men I will not acknowledge you before my Father so there's some tension there um what do you think you think these people are saved or not god knows for sure for sure yes is it possible that a person can genuinely receive Christ but it takes them a bit of time to weigh the cost and to get the courage to take that stand yeah yeah Peter was up and down wasn't he I think coming to a different point when they actually okay all right Tommy's raising an interesting point you part of what we're dealing with here is based on how we define belief in him is it just to believe the historical facts about him to know who he is to understand and agree with what the Bible teaches obviously we all would recognize that's not saving faith you know the book of James has something to say about that you believe in God James 2 you believe in God good the demons also believe in God and tremble okay they're not going to be any demons in heaven but they they have a they had a head knowledge of who God is they know who he is and they tremble they know he's holy they know something about him but it doesn't save them so that may be part of what we're dealing with here you know I kind of feel like and I could be wrong when I get to heaven I may be proven wrong here and that's fine I'm not going to leave heaven because of it I think I'll stay um but I kind of feel like we may be dealing with people like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus people who I believe give evidence of a growing understanding of who Jesus is and a growing confidence to be able to publicly identify with him now at what point were they actually saved was there a heart change I don't know again like Judah said only God knows um but I think we may be dealing with some people like like that who would later publicly identify with Christ but give little blimpses along the way that maybe they were coming to that point maybe by this point they had believed in him they were just afraid to do it publicly but later they would when did both of those people publicly identify with Jesus talking about Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus after he died at the burial right I think we've got the verse on the screen for you I think we do great yeah John 19 later this is when Jesus died later Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders okay maybe that's the kind of person we're talking about he was a follower of Jesus but he had not yet come out publicly yet was he saved I think he was well I'm not sure that he was denying Christ publicly I'm just not sure he was willing to come out on the floor of the Pharisees and say okay I want you to know I wonder if by this room know where I am I think he was he was coming to that and I think this is the point at which he did it because to take Jesus body and bury him in a tomb that belongs to you is a public statement of identification with Jesus but let's finish the verses and then Lynn will get will get your question here he was a disciple but secretly because he feared the Jews leaders with Pilate's permission he came and took the body away he was accompanied by Nicodemus none of the Nicodemus the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night and C. John is pointing these things out I think maybe tying the whole story together Nicodemus certainly was interested in who Jesus was and heard a plain presentation of the gospel in John 3 maybe at that and remember later he challenged the Pharisees about their response to Jesus maybe he has also gradually come to this place of okay I do believe in Christ I just haven't come out with it publicly yet but anyway Nicodemus brought a mixture of spices and so forth they they take Jesus body and go on with the burial as the rest of the passage says maybe we're talking about those kind of people there are a few other people I want to mention but Lynn let's get your question first exactly good good point that I mean exactly and that's that was my whole point earlier when I said it could be that these people truly had believed on Jesus and it just took them a while to count the cost and say okay yeah I'm ready to die I'm ready to die for him because for them to come out publicly basically was like Lynn said it was death wish to come out in the among the Pharisees remember Nicodemus was close when they were debating Jesus and Nicodemus basically said to them you know he took Jesus side and the other Pharisees are looking at him and saying you become one of his disciples too I think they were beginning to sniff him out realize that hey maybe he is a follower of Christ I think you're right Caleb what what did you yeah yeah that's a great point that verse in Romans 10 10 does tie the two together and what what I think that's saying is the confessing of our mouth is an evidence of what's happened in our heart if you are genuinely saved in your heart at some point in some way you will confess with your mouth it may not be immediately but it will happen you know I think all of us in this room probably know of certain things in our lives that didn't drop off immediately after we were saved it took a little time to overcome some things to realize even that they were wrong and to move beyond those and so it maybe it's that way with public profession too in some people that happens immediately some people that happens a little later but it will happen if you're genuinely saved because it's a package deal if you believe in your heart you will confess with your mouth also okay that that's a great point Caleb yes yes it is important to do that it is very important to do that now you're here again we're in a we're in a difficult zone between either getting going to error on one side or the other obviously we all recognize that it is not a public profession that actually saves you or or if it does then something we do contributes to our salvation obviously it is the faith when we receive Christ that saves us the public profession goes hand in glove with that as an evidence of the fact so Paul can say in Romans 10 they go together you know you don't have one without the other just like James says in James 2 you don't have faith without works if you have genuine saving faith you will have works you remember James says show me your faith without your works I'll show you my faith by my works okay it's the same thing same thing there will be evidence so these men eventually did come out publicly and profess Christ with their lips it took them a little while but if I understand what the scriptures are saying they were followers they believed in him it took them a while to count the cost and to be willing to make that stand publicly now maybe they'd already told some other folks maybe they'd told their families and friends but they had not come out publicly among the other Pharisees yes so yeah what we're struggling with here is a very difficult thing and that is the whole situation of the disciples and and even through the book of Acts you're dealing with a transition period because the disciples right up to the death of Christ did not understand what we understand about the death of Christ they didn't get it at all so if we're saying okay you have to understand the death of Christ that he was going to die for you as a savior the disciples didn't know that before the crucifixion but nobody before the cross did you know the Bible teaches in any Old Testament times faith was what saved people but the content of that faith was different Abraham believed God and God counted it to him for righteousness what did you believe he believed the promise God gave him about you'll have a son and you'll have a great nation so forth he believed God's promise and if you look at Genesis 15 you'll find that's exactly what that's talking about people before the cross their faith was in the promises of God and the character of God and who God was and and owning him as their God the disciples were caught between those two time periods so they believed in Jesus but they didn't understand his death yet so they didn't fully grasp that till after his death and resurrection so there is some sense in which I guess you can say they were followers of Christ but maybe they weren't saved in the age of grace kind of salvation till after the resurrection it that's just difficult to say I think they were saved before in the sense that any Old Testament saint was saved but they certainly did not have a full understanding of the death of Christ yes certainly the miracle and that was the purpose of the miracles was to give evidence of the fact of who he was and to generate belief in him and John said that in the end of his gospel he said the reason why I've given you these mighty works that Jesus did is so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you might have life in his name through his name but there were others who saw the works interpret them differently like the Pharisees said you're doing them by the power of Satan and further hardened their hearts so got both there okay there are a couple of other folks though that I want to mention then the verses are on the screen so we need to get to those Acts 6 you get into the book of Acts this is after the death of Christ the early church has started so the word of God spread the number of disciples and Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith okay could it be that these were some of the people that were asking questions even before Jesus died I mean they saw they heard and their whole belief system is being challenged and they're thinking and then after the resurrection and so forth they finally make that commitment maybe they've been kind of on the path toward that another group is in Acts 15 then some of the believers who belong to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said the Gentiles must be circumcised and be required to keep the law of Moses okay there were some people even among the Pharisees who were believers in the early church they were still confused about some of their theology and again here you've got this transition time in the book of Acts where you've got people who were Pharisees before they came to Christ they came to Christ they were believers they were in the church of Jerusalem but they were still hanging on to the law of Moses and it it took the church a while to sort that out you know that don't you it wasn't until Acts 15 that they finally the apostles finally made a clear declaration about you don't need the law of Moses to to be saved it took them a while to sort some of that out so I'm saying all of that to say we're dealing with a kind of a transition period where people are grasping truth bit by bit and what they know at this point they've trusted but they will come to a fuller knowledge later but you know that's the experience of many of us isn't it who made professions very early in life a lot of people who made professions of faith in Christ when they were five six years old and then they get into a teen years and they realize you know I don't know if I knew what I was doing I'm not sure if I understood enough their their knowledge base has grown of what it means to be saved and what the Bible teaches about Christ and so there are many people in those years that will say you know I don't think I really understood enough I'm going to make sure and I think that's fine I think they were probably saved when they were five they understood the simplicity of the gospel but it's fine to make sure obviously better to do that than to be deceived so there's a sense in which in our experience we pass through some of that same kind of growth of understanding and knowledge so and it's kind of hard for a lot of those folks to say exactly what was the point when I was saved was it when I was five or was it when I was 18 not real sure the important thing is to know right now that you're placing all of your confidence in faith in Jesus Christ as you're saved and you you've trusted him okay our time is up we'll finish up chapter 12 and then head to Tuesday morning next time okay let's pray Father thank you for the life of Christ what an amazing amazing life he lived thank you for his teaching Lord all these many centuries since then we still struggle to understand the depth of what he said and yet it is simple enough for a child to understand and believe enough to be saved thank you Father for both the simplicity and the profundity of the gospel may we be amazed at its simplicity may we be awed by its profundity and never lose side of the fact that we have a great God a great Savior and a great salvation in Jesus name we pray amen